scrabble

verb
🔊/ˈskræbl/
🔊/ˈskræbl/
[intransitive] (especially British English)
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they scrabble
🔊/ˈskræbl/
🔊/ˈskræbl/
he / she / it scrabbles
🔊/ˈskræblz/
🔊/ˈskræblz/
past simple scrabbled
🔊/ˈskræbld/
🔊/ˈskræbld/
past participle scrabbled
🔊/ˈskræbld/
🔊/ˈskræbld/
-ing form scrabbling
🔊/ˈskræblɪŋ/
🔊/ˈskræblɪŋ/
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  1. to try to find or to do something in a hurry or with difficulty, often by moving your hands or feet about quickly, without much control忙乱地找;翻找;乱抓;乱动
    • scrabble around/about for something She scrabbled around in her bag for her glasses.她在包里翻来翻去找眼镜。🔊🔊
    • scrabble for something He was scrabbling for a foothold on the steep slope.他在陡坡上挣扎着乱蹬,想找个落脚的地方。🔊🔊
    • a sound like rats scrabbling on the other side of the wall墙那面一种像老鼠乱抓的声音
    • scrabble + adv./prep. In his panic, he began scrabbling at the lock.惊慌失措,他开始在锁上乱窜。
    • The kids scrabbled up the slope.孩子们在斜坡上拼字游戏。
    Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘make marks at random, scrawl’): from Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben ‘to scrape’.